and virginia has already passed one. because of that, virginia's attorney general-- republican ken cuccinnelli-- has filed a separate lawsuit against the federal government. >> i'm doing exactly what i said i was going to do when i ran for office and i got more votes then anybody running for attorney general in virginia history. people of virginia knew what they where getting when they elected me. >> woodruff: when president lyndon johnson signed medicare into law 45 years ago, it, too, ran into opposition from the states. in some cases, because it required racial integration of publicly funded hospitals. those challenges failed, and many legal scholars say this new batch of state lawsuits will fare no better. and at the white house, presidential aides maintain none of the cases bears any legal merit. >> i think that for many decades, the supreme court has recognized congress authority under the commerce clause to regulate activities relating to interstate commerce. my advice from counsel is that we'll win these, we'll w